Narendra Modi-Naveen Chat Will Hurt BJP: Bijay Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar: Senior BJP leader Bijay Mohapatra on Saturday said that the intimacy between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will have an adverse effect on the saffron party in Odisha in the forthcoming elections.

“After Harivansh Narayan Singh was elected as the deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha, the Prime Minister, in a telephonic conversation with the Chief Minister, expressed his gratitude to him for supporting the NDA-backed candidate. Considering the fact that the state BJP which has been criticizing the state government, the sudden change in its stand towards the BJD will be seriously examined by the people of the state. How come you seek support from a party in the morning and then speak against it in the evening? Will the people believe you? You cannot blow hot and cold in the same breath after all,” Mohapatra told mediapersons here.

He said the BJD should also make its stand clear on this issue.

Referring to the public hearing conducted by the three-member committee formed by the state government on reforms in the management of Shree Jagannath temple in Puri, Mohapatra said he had recently met Gopal Subramaniam, the amicus curiae appointed by the Supreme Court, in New Delhi.

“As told by Subramaniam, he will visit Odisha in the last week of this month and have a meeting with the temple servitors and seek their opinion about the reform proposals. Hence, there is no need for a closed-door public hearing by the three-member committee which has no relevance. If the committee is keen on seeking the opinion of the people, it should conduct the hearing in public and not behind the closed door. Moreover, those who had conducted the public hearing, there are several allegations of irregularities against them,” the BJP leader pointed out.